Mtwara Gas Project Conflict: Causes of Arising and Ways of ...

Social Sciences 2017; 6(3): 73-84 http://www.sciencepublishinggroup.com/j/ss doi: 10.11648/j.ss.20170603.12 ISSN: 2326-9863 (Print); ISSN: 2326-988X (Online)

Mtwara Gas Project Conflict: Causes of Arising and Ways of Stabilization (Part 2)

Mwesiga Thobias1, Mikova Kseniia

2, *

1Planner and Natural Resource Management Consultant, Dodoma, Tanzania 2Department of Geography and Environmental Studies, University of Dodoma, Dodoma, Tanzania

Email address:

[email protected] (M. Thobias), [email protected] (M. Kseniia) *Corresponding author

To cite this article: Mwesiga Thobias, Mikova Kseniia. Mtwara Gas Project Conflict: Causes of Arising and Ways of Stabilization (Part 2). Social Sciences.

Vol. 6, No. 3, 2017, pp. 73-84. doi: 10.11648/j.ss.20170603.12

Received: April 5, 2017; Accepted: April 20, 2017; Published: June 3, 2017

Abstract: Conflict about the natural resources has been arising at the end of 2012 in the Mtwara Municipality in Tanzania.

Mtwara residents started to show opposition to the extraction of natural gas. During the period of violence more than 12 residents

were murdered, property was destroyed, woman were raped and others tortured. Causes of the Mtwara Gas Project conflict till

now have not been documented. The study assessed the reasons of local community participation and role of the government in

the gas conflict in Mtwara in 2012-2013. The total sample size was 137 respondents included; 98 households who were affected

by the conflict, 9 key informants who were experienced and knowledgeable enough to provide relevant information about the

conflict and 2 focus group discussion with 15 members each. Pre-designed questionnaire and semi-structured interviews were

used to obtain primary data from households and key informants and checklist was used to guide the interviews. Among the

reasons of the local resident’s participation in the conflict were identified over-expectations from the local community, false

promises from the government, poor stakeholders’ involvement before and after the implementation of the project, political

interference, and low benefits sharing from the project benefit. Community expectations were not fulfilled and thus created a

conflict between community members and the government. The majority of the respondents reported that strikes foster the

implementation of promises and draw an attention to local community needs. The Government implemented some promises after

the conflict was stabilized and maintained peace and harmony to the local community in Mtwara. Despite of that, majority of

respondents not being satisfied with the benefits received from the Government in 2013. Some of the main reasons for the

dissatisfaction were low compensation paid for the land taken, low implementation of job promises, few constructions of

industries and other false promises.

Keywords: Natural Resources Conflict, Reasons of Conflict, Mtwara Municipality, Tanzania

1. Introduction

About fifty armed conflicts in 2001 had a strong link to

natural resource exploitation, in which either licit or illicit

exploitation helped to trigger, intensify, or sustain violence

[1]. In Pakistan and Bolivia, for example, violent protests

have broken out over the distribution of water. In the Middle

East, disputes over oil fields in Kuwait, among other issues,

led to the first Gulf War. In another example, the rebel groups

Revolutionary United Front (RUF) in Sierra Leone and

National Union for the Total Independence of Angola used

revenues derived from diamond mining to fund their

rebellions against their respective governments. Those wars

appear to be lasting longer: the expected duration of conflict

is now more than double that of conflicts that started prior to

1980 [1]. In the current global context of increasing

consumption, growing populations, and declining availability

of many natural resources, numerous analysts have predicted

that disputes over natural resources such as oil, water and

timber will become more common. Conflicts over natural

resources are likely to occur in various contexts, from local

disputes to international disputes. Theories from social

science over the last two centuries provide insight and

explanation regarding the sociological, political, and

economic factors that can be used to understand or predict

74 Mwesiga Thobias and Mikova Kseniia: Mtwara Gas Project Conflict: Causes of Arising and Ways of Stabilization (Part 2)

the contexts in which conflict over natural resources is likely

[2].

The management of land and natural resources is one of

the most critical challenges facing developing countries today.

The exploitation of high-value natural resources, including

oil, gas, minerals and timber has often been cited as a key

factor in triggering, escalating or sustaining violent conflicts

around the globe [3]. Conflict itself is not a negative

phenomenon; indeed, well-managed conflict can be an

essential component of social change, democracy and

development. However, where local and national institutions

lack the capacity to resolve disputes over the degradation or

depletion of natural resources, violent conflicts can and do

emerge [3]. Conflicts such as the wars in Sierra Leone,

Angola, and the Democratic Republic of Congo have raised

growing concerns that natural resources such as diamonds,

oil, gold, tantalum, tin and tungsten either cause conflict or

shape the strategies of armed actors. These concerns have

encouraged policymakers to design new frameworks of

intervention, aimed at cutting the assumed links between

armed groups and resources and at promoting transparent

models of resource governance [4].

Latin America is among the regions where such conflicts

are most widespread. The region’s economies are particularly

reliant on commodities exports. Fuels and mining products

were equivalent to 40% of South and Central American

exports in 2013, compared to a global average of 22% [5].

The commodities boom over the past decade has coincided

with a spike in conflicts over natural resources in Latin

America, some of which have turned violent. Peaceful

protests allow citizens to exercise democracy and voice

concerns about projects that may directly affect their

communities. However, they also create a challenge for

governments in a region where domestic demand for energy

and natural resources is on the rise due to population growth

and expanding middle classes and where government budgets

are particularly dependent on taxes and royalties from these

sectors due to a low income tax take [6].

Africa is a vast, diverse and exotic continent rich in

minerals and natural resources [7]. It continues to experience

environmental degradation, poverty, underdevelopment,

corruption and violence. Incidents of civil war have increased

considerably, particularly in Africa [8]. With the increasing

number of these conflicts in Africa, there has been a

remarkable increase in the number of these studies as well,

including articles in the newspapers of countries affected by

these conflicts. According to [9] some studies in this category

take a holistic view and address issues that are common to

several countries in particular regions. These include land

ownership disputes in West Africa; agro-pastoral conflicts in

East Africa; water, land aridity, and conflict in the Horn of

Africa and its immediate environs; as well as ethno-racial

land distribution controversies and potential water crisis in

southern Africa [9]. Apart from specific problems peculiar to

some areas, conflict-prone regions and countries have

received particular attention. On the Horn of Africa, a major

study by Markakis [10] looks at conflicts over natural

resources in the region. Studies on Nigeria, Angola, Liberia,

Sierra Leone, and other countries have concentrated interest

on resources peculiar to each country, such as oil in Nigeria

[11, 12] oil and diamonds in Angola [13, 14], rubber and

timber in Liberia [15], diamonds in Sierra Leone [16, 17],

and land in Zimbabwe [18]. In most cases, interests have

been on the causal role of resources in the conflict and how

resources have fueled and sustained wars. However, some of

the studies have considered efforts at resolving the conflicts.

An example of the latter is Ben Cousins’ essay [19],

“Conflict Management for Multiple Resource Uses in

Pastoralists and Agro-Pastoralists Contexts.” The World

Bank project on the role of economic considerations in

conflicts [20] has also cut across both causal and resolution

factors in the relationship between natural resources and

conflict [9].

Tanzania is a low-income country, with a population of

about 51.8 million in 2016. Poverty reduction has been slow,

with approximately 12 million of citizens living in dire poverty

while a significant portion of the non-poor population lives just

above the poverty line and risks falling into poverty unless

proper measures are in place [21]. Although there has been

recent growth that has helped Tanzania’s poorest, the report

emphasizes that approximately 70% of Tanzanians continue to

live with less than $2 per day. Basic needs poverty, which

refers to the minimum resources needed for physical wellbeing,

declined from 34.4% in 2006, to 28.2% by 2012. During the

same time period, extreme poverty also decreased from 11.7%

to 9.7% [21]. Despite all of this almost half (48%) of

Tanzania’s population of 36 million people are unable to meet

basic food and non-food needs [22].

In Tanzania the presence of gas resources raised the

expectations of the government and gave hope to local

communities. The government expected to have more

revenues which would support their budget. Local

communities expected to improve their living standards and

have an increased level of job opportunities and as a result

should significantly reduce the poverty [23, 24]. Some

promises to satisfy the people were made by the government in

Mtwara region during the presidential campaign [25].

Particularly the construction of industries was planned for

Mtwara as well was expected improvement of social services.

But later the government announced that the resources would

be mined in Mtwara and then piped directly to Dar-es-Salaam.

Mtwara residents then realized that their need wouldn’t be

satisfied and they then started to show opposition to the

extraction of gas at the end of 2012 [23, 24]. During the period

of violence more than 12 residents were murdered, property

was destroyed, woman were raped and others tortured.

Similar conflict could arise in any place with abundant

natural resources within Tanzania or elsewhere. Causes of the

conflict between the local community and the government in

Mtwara Region till now have not been documented. Due to

that this article assesses the reasons for the local

community’s participation and the roles of the government in

the conflict. It was thought that identification of the reasons

for the conflict would help improve the government strategy

Social Sciences 2017; 6(3): 73-84 75

on the initiation of other natural resource projects and help

harmonize community awareness and involvement.

2. Materials and Methods

2.1. The Study Area

Mtwara Municipality is located in the southernmost

Mtwara Region which is one of twenty regions of Tanzania

Mainland. It lies between longitudes 38o and 40o 30" East of

Greenwich. It is also situated between latitudes 10o 05" and

11o 25" South of the Equator. It borders Lindi Region to the

North, the Indian Ocean to the East and separated by the

Ruvuma River from Mozambique in the South. To the West,

it borders Ruvuma Region the Region occupies 16,720 km2

or 1.9% of Tanzania Mainland land area of 885,987 sq. km

[26].

Figure 1. Location of the Study Area in Mtwara Municipality.

This study was conducted in Mtwara Municipality. Two

villages within the Municipality, namely Kagera and

Magengeni were used for the study. The criterion for the

selection of these villages was size of the conflict. The

selected villages were chosen as they had a higher level of

conflict than in other areas within the Municipality and which

became the starting point of the violence.

2.2. Target Population

The targeted population in this study was the local

community who were affected by the conflict; hence, they

were provided sufficient information about the reasons of

conflict. It included households from the two selected villages

and key informants. Among the key informants were village

executive officers, villages chairpersons, regional gas project

coordinator, and gas officers from the Tanzania Petroleum

Development Company. Households with age 22 years old

and above were interviewed because at the time of conflict

eruption in 2012-2013, they were 18 years old and above. At

age of 18 years respondents were regarded to be mature

enough for providing proper explanations about the conflict as

that age considered the starting age of the working class in

Tanzania [26].

2.3. Data Collection

Household questionnaire surveys. A pre-designed

questionnaire was used to obtain information concerning the

reasons of local community participation in the conflict and

role of the government in the conflict. This questionnaire

comprised of both open and closed-ended questions. The

authors covered a sample size of 98 households (at sampling

error 10%) as part of the population to be studied from the two

villages (Kagera and Mangengeni). The sample size

distribution among villages was computed proportionally to

the population presented in villages and covered 66

households in Kagera and 32 households in Magengeni

villages. The strategy of household selection within each

village was based on the skip interval. Random interval was

identified for both villages and equal to 16 households in

Kagera and Magengeni. Simple random sampling was

conducted by using the list of the households affected by the

conflict provided by the village executive officers of each

village. The selection of households was done randomly to

meet the target of constituting the sample. Questionnaire

pre-testing was done to test the question wording, response

rates and survey time. Following the pre-testing results, some

ambiguous questions were removed and others were


rephrased. Questionnaire had three major sections. The first

section contained the demographic data, including age, sex,

education and economic activities of the respondents. The

second section covered the reasons of local community’s

participation in conflict. The last section comprised the role of

the Government in the conflict.

Interviews. Purposive sampling was used to select

individuals who were conversant with the research problem.

These were people who were experienced and knowledgeable

enough to provide relevant information for the study. The key

informants who participated in the study included the 2 ward

executive officers, 2 village executive officers, 2 village chair

persons, 1 regional gas project coordinator, and 2 Tanzania

Petroleum Development Company (TPDC) gas officers. The

semi-structured interviews were used to obtain primary data

from the key informants and the checklist was used to guide

the interviews.

Focus group discussions. The number of the group

members varied from village to village but it ranged from 10

to 15 members. The groups were formed by different

categories of people including youth and women. Participants

of focus group discussions did not participate in the household

survey. The group discussions aimed to get in depth

information from the local community members who were

affected and participated in the conflict in 2012-2013.

3. Results and Discussion

3.1. Characteristics of the Respondents

This study targeted households who were involved and

affected during the conflict and had experience with the

conflict which occurred in 2012-2013. The respondent’s age

was established to ensure that in 2012 (the time when the

conflict started) they were at least 18 years old. As a result

data collection in 2016 accrued only with respondent’s age 22

years and above. The majority of respondents (67.4%) were

aged 22-32 (32.7%) and 33-42 (34.7%). This implies that the

youth (15-35 years old) are more energetic and productive but

also are more affected by the challenges of unemployment and

poverty and hence were more active participants in the

conflict. Amidst them 72.4% of respondents interviewed were

males whereas 27.6 % of respondents were females.

According to this study, the targeted respondents were the

households who participated in the gas conflict from 2012-13.

It was noted that interested participants of conflict were more

dominated by male compared to female counterparts.

Analysis of the respondent’s occupational characteristics

reveals that 24.5% of the respondents were farmers, 19.4% of

the respondents were fishers, 39.8% of respondents were

involved in small business such as operating of small kiosks,

bricks making, petty business i.e. selling clothes, food and

other small community needs, whereas 16.3% of respondents

were employed in government and private sectors. Among

them 48.0% of respondents had attained primary school

education, which is the basic education for all Tanzanians,

30.6% had secondary level of education, 17.3% had attained

college education and above, and 4.1% had not attended

formal education. This reveals that the research target of the

age 22 and above shows that almost all (95.9%) of the

respondents had attained primary level of education.

3.2. Reasons for the Local Community’s Participation in

the Conflict

3.2.1. Expectations of the Local Community

Results show that the whole of the local community

expected to have improved services i.e. health, education,

trading, security services as well as water and power supply

services. This justifies that the local community had high

expectations regarding the improvement of social services

from the government. The low implementation of the

expectation of the local community increased hostility

between the local community and the Government, which

future resulted in the conflict. This was also justified through

the focus group discussions in Magengeni and Kagera villages.

During the discussions members shared that their community

had high expectations for the improvement of services and

therefore their living standards. Similar evidence was detected

by Halima et al. [27] “…residents want local government

reforms to give their communities more access to electricity

and other amenities.” Region’s unpreparedness in managing

expectations and proceeds from the oil and gas exploration

moved them into deadly protests [27].

At the same time, the local people continued to be

misinformed from various sources in Mtwara and the country

at large. The information came from media such as televisions,

radios, newspapers and blogs (Figure 2). While more than half

(62.2%) of respondents got information from political

representatives. Kabendera [23] noted that the discontented

groups, coupled with the expectations of the ordinary people

who think the discovered oil and gas would have to filling

money into their pockets, could have easily been provoked

into action by shrewd politicians who are keen to get support

ahead of 2015 polls. As well the similar experience of regions

with mineral resources, such as Shinyanga in northern

Tanzania and Mara in the North-West of the country, which

have remained extremely poor, could have galvanized the

residents of Mtwara into demanding the government to

explain to them how they would benefit from the resources

before shipping them out [23].

Only few (4.1%) of respondents affirmed that they got

information from the local government representatives

(Figure 2). Kabendera [23] noted that probably the

government didn’t do even the social and environmental

analysis before introducing some of the gas projects because

they would have come across such challenges and found ways

to address them [23]. This, on the other hand, implies that the

Government did not make enough effort to inform its people

about the project and, consequently, the people received much

of their information from other sources that misinformed them.

As a result they resorted to violence and participation in

conflict attempt to protect resources from being moved away.

Social Sciences 2017; 6(3): 73-84 77

Figure 2. Sources of Information for Local Community.

In addition, the local community already had experience

from other investors in and outside the country, which

extracted people’s resources and left them poor. This resulted

in dissatisfaction between the Government, investors and the

local community. This was also proved during one of the focus

group discussion at Kagera Village where members

commented that:

“The information about of non-fulfillment of expectations

for Mtwara Municipality additionally was caused by

experience of conflicts from other places within country.

Similar problems were faced at Geita and Kahama Districts

in Tanzania and other countries worldwide with an

abundance of natural resources. Example of similar natural

resource conflicts have been detected in Nigeria, Sudan,

Congo and Uganda. There evidences in most cases were

learned from the media and political representatives of

different parties”.

Also, during the household survey, community members

expressed their expectations which were submitted in village

offices. These requests were accepted by the Government (see

Figure 3).

Figure 3. Response from Government about Community Needs.

The majority of respondents (90.8%) commented that the

government accepted request, but it did not start the

implementation of the promises on time. Just a few

respondents (9.2%) revealed that the government rejected

requests. This implies that although the government accepted

the community requests, it was not ready to implement them

on time; or rather they did not give them information about the

progress of the project. Some of the promises for improvement

of social services in the region were made during the election

campaign in 2010 (well documented in the CCM Manifesto

[25]), but they were not implemented until the introduction of

the natural gas project.

3.2.2. Reasons of Local Community Involvement in the

Conflict

In studying the conflict it is important to identify the

reasons of its arising. The main reasons for the peoples’

participation in the conflict were identified by the respondents

as indicated in Table 1. About 98% of the respondents

commented that it was because of false promises from the

government and a lack of implementation for local residents in

Mtwara.


Table 1. Reasons for Involvement in the Conflict.

Reasons Frequency Percentage, %

False promises from the

government

Yes 96 98.0

No 2 2.0

Total 98 100.0

Political interference

Yes 94 95.9

No 4 4.1

Total 98 100.0

Low benefits sharing from

the project benefit

Yes 88 89.8

No 10 10.2

Total 98 100.0

Poor stakeholders

involvement

Yes 95 96.9

No 3 3.1

Total 98 100.0

These findings relate with what happened in the Niger Delta

in Nigeria. The failure of the early independent Nigerian

Government to follow through on promises such as to treat the

Region as a special development area, the steady reduction in

the share of oil royalties that states in the Delta have received,

and, finally, the habitual disregard of state needs by the

non-indigenous military state governors, resulted in and

worsened delta problems. The neglect of the Delta's

development (roads, schools, electricity, and health services

which all ended well inland before reaching coastal

communities), Nigeria's overall economic decline since the

mid-1980s, and the tendency of educated Delta youths to leave

the area, have confirmed its status as an economic backwater

and people who remained behind simply lacked prospects

elsewhere [28]. Again 95.9% of the respondents revealed that

the political interference motivated violence in Mtwara

District. This coheres to what happened in the North and

Southern Sudan whereby political interference in the natural

resources (oil and gas) resulted in civil wars which were future

fuelled by feelings of economic and political marginalization,

deprivation and disfranchisement by the Southern Sudanese

population [29, 30]. Also, 89.8% of respondents said violence

resulted to low benefit sharing from project benefits. This

resembles the experience learnt from the Sudan natural

resource conflict where the oil revenue sharing agreement

remained a major bone of contention – primarily over fairness,

transparency and management. The fact that oil resources in

the North Sudan were not shared equally was deemed unfair.

Southerners highlight the lack of transparency from the

government and the multinational companies when reporting

true revenue figures. This undermined the

‘equal-wealth’-sharing agreement. The fact that various peace

agreements were essentially wealth-sharing agreements serves

as a measure of the magnitude of the problem [31].

Again, 96.9% of the respondents pointed out that because of

poor involvement from stakeholders the eruption of the

conflict occurred. Where communities and stakeholders are

poorly included, marginalized or excluded from the dialogue

in the extractive industry development and subsequent profit

distribution process, they are very likely to begin to oppose the

development. As tensions escalate, communities may develop

strategies of violence as a coercive measure against the

industry alliance and/or government as a means for addressing

old grievances and mounting opposition [32]. In the Niger

Delta, poor involvement of stakeholders has witnessed on

unprecedented spate of conflicts in the recent past, and all

efforts to quell the conflict seem to have failed to yield the

desired results in the natural resource community benefits

[33].

The findings on the reasons as to why the people from

Mtwara decided to engage in conflicts between the

community and government were also discussed. Table 2

summarizes, 81.6% of respondents revealed that the conflict

was due to over expectations that the community had on

improving their social services, 92.9% of respondents said that

it was due to the failure of the government to fulfill their basic

promises, 91.8% of respondents commented that it was due to

a lack of enough participation of community members before

and after the establishment of the project.

Also, 87.8% of respondents claimed that the resulting

conflict was due to poor organization to cooperate in social

responsibility, 88.8% of the respondents said that the conflict

was due to the issues of political interference and 76.5% of

respondents commented the conflict was due to the delay of

project support for community members. This implies that the

community had complaints about the government which

needed to be taken into consideration before and after the

establishment of the gas project from Mtwara to Dar es

Salaam. Also daily assessment of community needs and

involvement were not taken into consideration, hence,

conflicts erupted.

Table 2. Reasons for the Conflict in Mtwara.

Reasons Frequency

(Yes/No)

Percentage, %

(Yes/No)

Over expectation from the community 80/18 81.6/18.4

Failure of the government to fulfil the

basic promises 91/7 92.9/7.1

Lack of enough participation of

community members 90/8 91.8/8.2

Poor organization to cooperate of social

responsibility 86/12 87.8/12.2

Political interference 87/11 88.8/11.2

Delay of project support to community

members 75/23 76.5/23.5

Total 98 100

The researchers also investigated through the comments

from respondents about whether strikes were the only solutions

for the community’s voice to be heard. All respondents pointed

out that strikes were the only solution for them to raise their

voice to the government. Strikes were the result of the

community’s attempts to express their ideas and show their

opposition to the mismanagement of the government. This has

been explained by different writers where competition over

natural resources such as oil or diamonds can lead to and

intensify or sustain violence over resources, but natural

resources can also play a role in managing and resolving

conflict and preventing its reoccurrence [34].

The researchers found several reasons as to why

respondents thought that strikes were the only solution to their

problems as per Table 3. The majority of respondents (99.0%)

claimed that strikes foster the implementation of promises and

Social Sciences 2017; 6(3): 73-84 79

draw an attention to local community needs (92.9%). Also,

respondents (90.8%) said that strikes create opportunities for

the public to be heard and discussion to be had. Again, 90.8%

of respondents pointed out that strikes create awareness within

the country and immediate responses (89.8%). Likewise

Duarte [35] reported that increase of pressure on the

government could support the satisfaction of certain

community’s demands. Generally, the competition between

community and government in Mtwara motivated the

government to find a more permanent foundation for conflict

resolution. This was also expressed by one member in

Magengeni village during focus group discussion who stated

that:

“I decided to participate in the strikes in order to force the

government to implement their promises and involve us in

the benefit sharing”.

The researchers also found that all respondents were aware

of government public talks with community members about

the conflict. The researchers also future investigated what

decisions were made during conversations between the

government and the community (as summarized in Figure 4).

The majority of respondents (91.9%) said that community

needs exceeded the government’s capacity though the

government accepted the requests from the public.

Table 3. Perception of the Strikes by the Community.


False promises from the

government

Yes 96 98.0

No 2 2.0

Total 98 100.0

Political interference

Yes 94 95.9

No 4 4.1

Total 98 100.0

Low benefits sharing from

the project benefit

Yes 88 89.8

No 10 10.2

Total 98 100.0

Poor stakeholders

involvement

Yes 95 96.9

No 3 3.1

Total 98 100.0

Create awareness within

country

Yes 89 90.8

No 9 9.2

Total 98 100.0

Create immediate

government response

Yes 88 89.8

No 10 10.2

Total 98 100.0

Figure 4. Decision between Government and Community Members at the Public Talk.

According to the findings, majority of the respondents

(55.1%) revealed that they trusted on the government

promises since the promises intended to improve their social

economic wellbeing. While other respondents (44.9%) said

that they did not trust government promises due to experiences

from other areas in Tanzania, where an abundance of natural

resources resulted in conflict. The researchers further

investigated to find out why some of the respondents did not

trust the government. It was found out that major reasons for

that was low involvement of local community in before and

after establishment of the project (95.9%) and delay of the

project benefits (74.5%). Among other reasons mentioned

included the influence from political leaders (60.2%) and the

past experience from Tanzania and other parts of the world

(59.2%) (see Table 4).

Table 4. Reasons why Community Did Not Trust the Government.


The influence from political

leaders

Yes 59 60.2

No 39 39.8

Total 98 100.0

Delay of project benefit

Yes 73 74.5

No 25 25.5

Total 98 100.0

Low involvement of local

community

Yes 94 95.9

No 4 4.1

Total 98 100.0

Knowledge experience from

other areas in Tanzania and

other countries

Yes 58 59.2

No 40 40.8

Total 98 100.0

The gas conflict was also motivated by historical issues

with resources in Tanzania as stated in one of the focus group


discussions;

“Communities around the mineral mines were found not to

benefit even with the abundance of resources in their

communities. A good example is Geita Gold mine in Geita

region and Mwadui in Shinyanga.”

This information was justified by the WEO and VEO from

the Mangengeni and Kagera villages. They commented that;

“In most areas where the project took place there was a low

involvement of local people, delay in receiving benefits, but

also conflict expansion was motivated by the politicians for

their own political interests”.

3.3. The Role of the Government in Conflict

3.3.1. Public Involvement

The preparations (meetings, seminars or public talks with

the local community) before the implementation of the project

were studied (Table 5). The findings reveal that some seminars

were organized at the beginning of the project. Also, 53.1% of

respondents pointed out that some members were taken

abroad (to Norway and other countries) for further studies.

Those studies aimed to provide a new experience for

participant about natural resource management and help

understand how the natural gas could bring development.

Table 5. Measures Taken by the Government from the Beginning.

Measures Frequency

(Yes/No)

Percentage, %

(Yes/No)

Organized meetings 32/66 32.7/67.3

Organized public talk 34/64 34.7/65.3

Community was educated through

media 49/49 50.0/50.0

Organized Seminars 54/44 55.1/44.9

Organized abroad learning 52/46 53.1/46.9

The media provided different information about the gas

and the related project benefits within the country. That

information was organized in different perspectives; some

programmes showed the benefits while others showed the

negative experiences from Tanzania and abroad. Half of

respondents said that they were educated through the media.

While the remaining 50% said that they were not educated at

all. Majority of respondents (i.e. 65.3-67.3%) said that public

talks and meetings were not organized from the beginning

which led to the escalation of the conflict. Despite all of these

dues appear that some initiatives were taken by the

government to increase the capacity of the local community

to understand more about natural gas, related activities and

the benefits associated with the project. The findings from

the respondents in this study show that the Government did

not have enough of a capacity to fulfill promises. Some

important initiatives were not taken (such as public talks and

meetings) at all.

Additionally, this study shows how many government

leaders made a visit to Mtwara for the purpose of explaining

and making promises about benefits from the gas project (see

Table 6). The majority of respondents pointed out that several

visits were made by the President (79.6%) and by the Prime

Minister (75.5%). Different promises were made by the

President in 2010 during the Election Campaign [25]. The

former Prime Minister (2010-2015) soon after election made

a visit to Mtwara Municipality and after that visit was

announced in parliament that all promises would be

implemented. Other officers made poorer communication

attempts with the local community (i.e. 10.2-16.3%). This

implies that the visits to Mtwara were made by the national

leaders rather than the regional and district leaders.

Table 6. Government Officers/Leaders Visited Mtwara Municipality.

Government officers/leaders Frequency

(Yes/No)

Percentage,

% (Yes/No)

Officers from the Regional office 16/82 16.3/83.7

Officers from the Ministry of energy and

minerals 10/88 10.2/89.8

Officers from the Prime ministry office 11/87 11.2/88.8

Minister of Energy and Minerals 57/41 58.2/41.8

Prime minister 74/24 75.5/24.5

President 78/20 79.6/20.4

3.3.2. Measures for Stabilization of Conflicts

The majority (i.e. 93.9-99.0%) of the respondents

indicated that introductions of additional police forces as well

as army forces were made. Also talks took a place by the

Government as an attempt to implement for conflict violence

stabilization (see Table 7). As well, 73.5% of respondents

indicated that there was an internal and external capacity

building for community representatives. Particularly, there

was a significant increase in the number of local residents

who were empowered to seek additional education about the

gas issue.

Table 7. Government Measures for Stabilization of Conflict.

Measures Frequency

(Yes/No)

Percentage,

% (Yes/No)

Introduction of additional police forces 97/1 99.0/1.0

Introduction of additional army forces 97/1 99.0/1.0

Initiatives of talks 92/6 93.9/6.1

Increase of public education about the

benefit of the project 58/40 59.2/40.8

Implementation of promises 49/49 50.0/50.0

Initiation of seminars and public meeting 59/39 60.2/39.8

International and local capacity building

for community representatives 72/26 73.5/26.5

Additionally, 59.2-60.2% of respondents attended seminars,

public meetings and the public education provided about the

benefits of the gas project. The activities mentioned aimed to

strengthen local community education. Again 50% of

respondents commented that some of the promises were

implemented; such as construction of industries (Dangote

cement), improvement of electricity power supply. However

some other promises were not yet meet. These results

indicate that the government took measures to rescue the

situation after the conflict; these measures were intended to

stabilize the violence and sensitize the community benefits of

the gas project for community members.

In Nigeria, the President has stepped up efforts to find a

lasting solution to the renewed militancy in the Niger Delta

by holding a private meeting with the former President. They

Social Sciences 2017; 6(3): 73-84 81

have been discussing the oil and gas conflict in the Niger

Delta. As well, the President organized a meeting with local

community representatives of the Niger Delta [36]. This

shows that, in Niger Delta, different measures have been

taken to address the oil and gas conflict. The measures taken

involve both top government officials as well as local

community representatives. During the focus group

discussion of the participants in Magengeni village the

following comment was received:

“The government took strong measures to stabilize the

situation and, again after stabilization, the government

took on other negotiation measures in order to find a

sustainable means of solving the conflict”.

The majority of respondents said that the stabilization of

violence took around 1-2 months. Different activities were

organized during the period of conflict stabilization (see

Figure 5). 93.9-95.9% of respondents stated that organized

media education, meetings and seminars took place.

Meetings were held to discuss issues of the project

implementation and its benefits to the community. Seminars

were organized to train some of the members in the study

area on the gas project. The implementation of all promises

has not fully been reached yet, having been just introduced

only a few of them so far have been fulfilled. This implies

that strong measures were taken after the occurrence of the

conflict; therefore, if such measures could be taken before

this could help avoid such conflict in the future.

Figure 5. Activities Done During Time of Conflict Stabilization.

Similar findings were revealed in the study from the

conflict in Nigeria, where some measures were taken by the

government to meet with the local community. For example,

the Institute for Multi-track diplomacy (IMTD) has been

helping to facilitate education for the local community in the

Niger Delta about the benefits of oil and gas projects. To

support the Niger Delta Peace Forum (NDPF), people were

trained (a hundred people of NDPF members) on the conflict

resolution, local community for capacity building, as well as

group facilitation and leadership skills. Additional knowledge

was provided through the organizing of meetings, public

talks, seminars and study abroad [37]

3.3.3. Evaluation of the Community Expectations

Analysis of data in relation to the evaluation of community

expectations for improving social services such as water,

power, health and education shows that the majority of

respondents (81.6%) commented that their expectations were

partially considered or were taken as not important (see

Figure 6). This implies that low consideration of promises,

and its partial implementation together with poor knowledge,

was among the main motives behind the conflict in Mtwara.

Figure 6. Government Evaluation of the Community Expectations.

All respondents said that the Government gave them

promised through verbal talking to improve and develop their

services (health, education, employment, power and water

services), no any official document was ever established and

signed.

3.3.4. Fulfillment of Community Expectations

The implementation of Government promises achieved


during the conflict stabilization period in 2013 has been

revealed in this study. It was found that the majority of

respondents (i.e. 87.8%) commented that the government

achieved few promises (see Table 8).

Table 8. Realization of all Government Promises.

Realization of promises Frequency

Yes/No

Percentage,

% Yes/No

Government did not perform any promise 9/89 9.2/90.8

Government performed few promise 86/12 87.8/12.2

Government performed all 0/98 0/100

This coheres with what happened in Nigeria in the Region

of the Niger Delta where the local community demanded that

promises be met for a more equitable distribution of the

income generated by oil and gas production and for medial

action to counter the effects of gas flanking as well as other

forms of solution for environmental damage in the Delta

Region [38]. In the case of Mtwara Municipality, the

government did achieve a few promises although these

promises which were implemented by the government did

not satisfy the local community.

Among the promises that were implemented by the

government since 2013 were services such as education,

power supply and police security (see Table 9). Some

contributions have been provided to local schools which have

helped to build new and improve existing classrooms.

Additionally, some students from Mtwara District were

sponsored by the Government of Tanzania for undergraduate

studies specifically in the area of gas and oil both within the

country and abroad. In the case of power supply, the

Government constructed the Mtwara Gas Power Plant which

supplies stable power to both Mtwara and Lindi Regions. As

well, police security services have been maintained with the

increase of police staff and their equipment. Remaining

services were not fulfilled; for example, health services,

trading and water supply (see Table 10). Those services

remain in the same conditions as they were before conflict.

Table 9. The Promises that were fulfilled by the Government.

Implemented promises Frequency

Yes/No

Percentage, %

Yes/No

Health services 10/88 10.2/89.8

Education services 52/46 53.1/46.9

Trading services 6/92 6.1/93.9

Water services 18/80 18.4/81.6

Power services 73/25 74.5/25.5

Police security services 72/26 73.5/26.5

Evaluation of the community’s satisfaction with the

implementation of promises by the government after the

violence shows that the majority of respondents were not

satisfied with benefits received from the government in 2013.

At the beginning (i.e. 2010), the community expected to

benefit more from the gas deposits. Several reasons were

identified to explain why the community was not satisfied

(see Table 10).

Table 10. Reasons for the Community’s Dissatisfaction.

Reasons Frequency

(Yes/No)

Percentage,

% (Yes/No)

Low compensation for land 95/3 96.9/3.1

Low implementation of job creation

promise 94/4 95.9/4.1

Low implementation on construction of

industries 94/4 95.9/4.1

False promises 91/7 92.9/7.1

Low involvement of community 86/12 87.8/12.2

Excessive power use 66/32 67.3/32.7

Among the main reasons were low compensation for land

taken (96.9%), the low implementation of job promises

(95.9%) construction of industries (95.9%) and false

promises (92.9%). Linked results were obtained in the study

of Shanghvi [39] where two-thirds of the respondents

expressed outright dissatisfaction with their experience

regarding compensation for the land taken from them at the

expense of investments in the natural gas industry. Residents

complained that “some cattle and coconut trees died because

of poisonous chemicals but they haven’t been compensated

for to-date”, “the compensation is inadequate”, “if you refuse

the compensation amount they still move you from your land

by force” [39]. Komu [40] had observed

compensation-related disputes came second in the ranking of

land conflicts in Tanzania. Similar situation detected in India

[41, 42] and China [43] were local government paid lower

compensation than in market and as well delay with the

payments. In other case Kabendera [23] reported that the

presence of the gas didn’t spur the growth of manufacturing

and processing industries in the region, as was expected, and

hence made the community dissatisfied by lost job

opportunities.

Additionally, little involvement of local community

members (87.8%) created a deficit of appropriate knowledge

which leads to incorrect decisions being made among

community members. The last reason for community

dissatisfaction was the excessive use of power by the security

force (police and army forces). Residents feared participation

in any activities because police/army forces were unable to

distinguish between violators and non-violators and applied

measures to all residents. This implies that till now the

community is not satisfied with the Government’s

implementation of the promises. Similar reasons for natural

resource conflicts were stated by community leaders in Peru:

(i) few employment opportunities for the local communities,

which exacerbates the existing horizontal inequalities; and (ii)

insufficient compensation for the environmental costs of

mining (primarily water pollution) and for the relocation of

communities away from their land (often the source of their

livelihood) [44].

These findings are an indication that conflict could erupt

again if the government does not provide enough education

and ignores the community needs, and in specific, if it does

not provide feedback about the progress of its promises and

their fulfillment

Social Sciences 2017; 6(3): 73-84 83

4. Conclusion

Some of the main reasons for the local community’s

participation in the conflict are as follows; false promises from

the government, poor stakeholders’ involvement before and

after the implementation of the project, political interference,

and low benefit sharing from the project benefit. In most cases,

those expectations were not implemented or implemented

only partially and, hence, they created a conflict between

community members and the government. Some of the

promises made were improvement of health, education,

trading, power, water and security services, as well as

construction of industries and provision of employment.

Nevertheless, the community revealed that the project benefits

were delayed and in the end they benefited at a low level

compared to what they had expected.

The Government did initiate some of the roles needed

before and after the establishment of the project, although the

measures which were taken by the Government did not satisfy

the local community. From the beginning, the Government

conducted a few seminars and some community

representatives were taken abroad for study and to acquire

more knowledge about the gas project. But the organization of

meetings and public talks were poor. After the conflict

violence the government implemented some promises, such as

industrial construction and improvements in education. As

well, the Government stabilized violence and maintained

peace and harmony in the local community in Mtwara. In

order to avoid these conflicts in the future, all stakeholders and

beneficiaries need to be fully involved in all stages of the

project from the beginning and up to the end. Also, the

Government must implement the promises made to the local

community. Politicians were required not to intervene in the

development issues. Moreover, equal sharing of project

benefits needs to be considered for the sustainability of the

project.

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